Mastermind: 1985
Season 13 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Mastermind Season 12.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 13 Progress Shield
Episode 1
Jan 6, 1985
This 13th season opens tonight at Bristol Polytechnic when the first four of 48 hopeful contenders from Wales and south west England meet to compete for a place in the semi-finals
Episode 2
Jan 13, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson at Bristol Polytechnic Diana Moore (retired civil servant) The prose works of Rudyard Kipling Ian Christie (psychiatrist) The Old Pretender and his sons Sh
Episode 3
Jan 20, 1985
Ronald Fraser (freelance journalist) The life of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman Michael McWilliam (shop manager) Wines and wine-growing regions of France Elizabeth McCaffrey (solic
Episode 4
Jan 27, 1985
Four more contenders from Scotland compete for a place in the semi-finals when Mastermind comes tonight once again from the Burrell Collection in Glasgow. John Simpson (lexicograp
Episode 5
Feb 3, 1985
The National Railway Museum, York, is host to four contenders from the north of England. Here amid the splendour of steam and railway history one more place in the semi-final will
Episode 6
Feb 10, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson from The National Railway Museum, York. Four more contenders from the north of England compete for a place in the semi-finals. Brian Newton Elliot (opera sin
Episode 7
Feb 17, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson from The Great Hall of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. Four contenders from London and the south east seek the title of Mastermind 1985 Derek West (parish
Episode 8
Feb 24, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson from The Great Hall of St Bartholomew's Hospital, London Richard Durden (actor) Life of Robert Falcon Scott Clive Bettington (solicitor) The British Raj 189
Episode 9
Mar 3, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson from The Great Hall of the University of Reading. Four contenders from London and the south-east compete for a semi-final place. Alan Samson (book editor) T
Episode 10
Mar 10, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson from the Great Hall of the University of Reading Jo Gable (freelance writer) The Staffordshire Potteries 1928-39 Joseph Kerrigan (clerical assistant) Irish
Episode 11
Mar 17, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson from the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh Four contenders from the Midlands and East Anglia compete for a place in the semi-finals. Richard Bullock (un
Episode 12
Mar 24, 1985
with Magnus Magnusson from the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh The last of the first-round programmes sees four contenders from the Midlands and the east of England compete
Episode 13
Mar 31, 1985
The semi-final stage of this year's competition is reached tonight in the Great Hall of the University of Lancaster. Four winners of the first-round programmes compete for a place
Episode 14
Apr 7, 1985
The Great Hall of the University of Lancaster is the setting as four more winners of the first-round programmes challenge for a place in the Final of Mastermind 1985. Elizabeth Mc
Episode 15
Apr 14, 1985
Tonight's setting is the Taliesin Centre for the Arts at the University College of Swansea, where four winners of first-round programmes compete for a place in the final of Masterm
Episode 16
Apr 21, 1985
The last place in the final of this year's competition is at stake at the Taliesin Centre for the Arts, University College of Swansea. The contenders are the four best-scoring los
The Final
May 5, 1985
The climax of Mastermind 1985 takes place at Robinson College, Cambridge. In January 48 contenders set out to see who could win the coveted Caithness glass trophy. Tonight just the